Warrior

Built in 1859 by Ditchburn & Mare (Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Co), Blackwell, as a 36-gun, armoured iron steam frigate. The armour belt which covered the entire battery was 4½ " thick and was backed by 18" inch of teak. Equipped with Penn's horizontal trunk engines developing 5267 ihp.

Taken out of active duty in 1881 and subsequently served as a stationary training ship and a torpedo depot.

Originally armed with:

26	68	pound muzzle loading guns
10	110	pound Armstrong breech loading guns
4	40	pound Armstrong breech loading guns
2	20	pound Armstrong breech loading guns
1	12	pound Armstrong breech loading gun
1	6	pound muzzel loading gun

At the time of her completion the most powerful ship-of-war in the world.

1859 May 25: Laid down at the shipyard of Ditchburn & Mare (Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Co), Blackwell.
1859 December 29: Launched.
1861 October 24: Completed.
1864 November 22: Paid off and taken to the Portsmouth Dockyard for a refit.
1867: Re-commissioned.
1881: Paid off.
1901 May - 1902 July: Served as a hulk for torpedo stores.
1902 August: Served as a depot ship for the Portsmouth destroyers and was renamed Vernon III.
1904 April: Served as a floating workshop at the Naval Torpedo School the HMS Vernon, Portsmouth.
1923 Octover 1: Given back her original name.
1923 October 23: Converted to a mooring hulk for oil tankers at Pembroke Dock.
1979 June 12: Handed over to the Maritime Trust.
1979 September 2: Towed from Milford Haven to Hartlepool.

References:

Lambert, Andrew: Warrior. Restoring the World's First Ironclad, 1987.
Morgan, T. Fraser: Notes on Warrior Rigging 1860-1997.
Third International Conference on the Technical Aspects of the Preservation of Historic Vessels, San Francisco, CA, 1997.

Updated 1998-12-08 by Lars Bruzelius.

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